Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me
lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace
it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all.
Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.
(Matthew
16:24-25 Message)
If you claim to be a follower of
Christ, get out of the driver’s seat. We may not like it, but we understand.
The next words out of Jesus’s
mouth shock us. “Don’t run from suffering. Embrace it.”
Back then, Peter said “That can
never be!” and Jesus rebuked him as Satan’s messenger. “Get out of my way,
Satan. . .You have no idea how God works.” The rebuke is ever weirder,
following on the heels of Peter’s recognition of “You are the Son of the Living
God.” God praised Peter highly, describing him as a rock, and all the
affirmation that came with it.
From the highest heaven to hell
itself. Peter understood God’s heart about one thing, but he was as blind as
the rest of us about the other.
If Jesus meant, of course I have to suffer and die. I’m not
here to restore the kingdom, the rebuke makes a little sense.
But Jesus says more than that. We will suffer, as He did. We should
embrace suffering. In suffering, we find our true selves.
Perhaps those hermits who spent
years on top of a platform in the desert understood something we ignore today.
They sought suffering as a means to knowing God better.
Luther tried the same thing. He
flailed his back. He later recognized the futility of his actions, that the
just shall live by faith and not by acts of contrition.
When I am suffering, should I
seek escape?
Perhaps Paul’s advice to the
church at Corinth can guide our thinking: “Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called
you. Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if
you get a chance to be free, take it.”. (1 Corinthians 7:20-21, NIV)
Our
true selves depend on the inner man, not the external shell—not even a wheel-chair
bound nursing home resident.
